Mural adds to Hurley landscape

by Veronica Cruz

vcruz@yourdailyglobe.com

Hurley - The Hurley Dairy Queen owner, Moypa Khan, wanted to give something to the community, so he asked his friend from New Zealand to paint a mural depicting aspects of the region.

Khan met the artist, Laken Whitecliffe, in college and said they've been friends for a long time.

The mural is a Northwood scene, including wildlife and a man sitting at a campfire. It was painted this summer on a building Khan bought in May behind the restaurant.

Khan said he's happy with the way it turned out.

Whitecliffe has painted several murals. One mural he painted in New Zealand is 11 stories high, and is the tallest in the country, according to Khan.

They met in college when Khan was studying photography and Whitecliffe was studying banking. The two spent a year traveling together and creating murals.

Khan said he asked Whitecliffe to do whatever he wanted with the Hurley mural because "it's his art, get community aspect of what it's about."

Whitecliffe himself said that the mural in Hurley took a week to paint and it covers the wall and a bit of the ground in front.

Whitecliffe said he has done murals in Egypt, India, Korea, Peru, Berlin and Srilanka, to name a few. Khan joined him on his travels in 2015-2016 to help with the murals.

In the United States, he's painted murals in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Brooklyn and New Jersey. He said each mural he creates is a gift to leave behind for the community or country.

Each mural has something to do with the surrounding areas, he said, adding he tries to encompass the aspects of the areas he's in.

Whitecliffe stated that the 11-story mural he did in New Zealand, his home country, took 34 days to create over two months, as he took a few days off due to weather or other events.